GOA Challenges New York Gun Control, Highlighting Harmed Gun Owners
SYRACUSE, NY - Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) have filed a new lawsuit challenging New York's Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA) in the Northern District of New York.
New York passed the CCIA a mere few days after the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. SCOTUS confirmed an individual's right to carry a firearm outside the home for protection. The decision, written by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, eliminated New York's "proper cause" clause. Every state in the country became "shall issue."
Justice Thomas wrote that just because a place is where people gather, a state could not designate that location as a "sensitive area." New York State seemed to do just that. Much of the state became a "sensitive area."
For example, Time Square was designated a "sensitive area" because people gathered there. In many ways, people with unrestrictive carry licenses lost rights after Bruen. They could no longer take their firearm into a store or gas station because of the CCIA. New York also replaced "proper cause" with "good moral character." The new requirement forces applicants to hand over all social media to the state to decide if the applicant is of "good moral character." The state becomes the soul judge of morals. Many see this as an assault on First Amendment rights.
This case is the gun rights groups' second challenge to the CCIA. In the first case, Judge Glenn Suddaby found most of the CCIA to be unconstitutional, but since Ivan Antonyuk, the plaintiff in the case, did not plan to break the law, the judge felt he did not have standing. The court basically said that Mr. Antonyuk was too law-abiding. Gun Owners Foundation disagrees with the court’s ruling but respects its decision.
Now Antonyuk is back in court with additional plaintiffs who do plan to violate the CCIA. GOF believes these other plaintiffs will encourage the court to give standing to the case.
"We're excited to add plaintiffs to our lawsuit against the State of New York, challenging the Governor's and the state's egregious repudiation of the Supreme Court's decision on the Second Amendment," said Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President, Gun Owners of America. "This is a statute that anti-gun politicians have championed as a crime control policy -- but that couldn't be further from the truth. Given Judge Suddaby's previous writings that explain how this law is clearly unconstitutional, we are hopeful that it will be quickly enjoined by the court."
Although there are other challenges to the CCIA, this suit is the most comprehensive. If successful, the case would eliminate most, if not all, of the New York State anti-gun law.
"Our Complaint challenges numerous provisions of the wrongly-named Concealed Carry Improvement Act, including restrictions on locations which invalidate the Second Amendment right to public carry in almost all of New York," said Stephen Stamboulieh, Attorney for GOF. "Additionally, our Complaint challenges a variety of other requirements for being issued a carry permit, including that applicants must turn over three years of their social media, provide their friends and family's names and contact information to the police so they can be interrogated by government agents, take an exorbitantly expensive and time-consuming training class, requirements for in-person interviews with government agents without the protection of Fifth Amendment rights, and the requirement for an applicant to prove to a judge that he or she is of "good moral character."
GOF and GOA are asking the court for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and injunctive relief blocking the law from being enforced.
Meet the Gun Owners Harmed by New York’s New Concealed Carry Restrictions:
Plaintiffs Antonyuk, Johnson, Terrille, Mann, Leman, and Sloane are the kind of persons discussed by the United States Supreme Court in its recent opinion in Bruen – that is, they are typical, law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs, who cannot be dispossessed of their right to bear arms in public for self-defense:
Plaintiff Ivan Antonyuk is a natural person, a citizen of the United States and of the State of New York, and resides in Schenectady County, New York. He is a law-abiding person, who currently possesses and has maintained an unrestricted New York carry license since 2009, and who is eligible to possess and carry firearms in the State of New York. Learn More…
Plaintiff Corey Johnson is a natural person, a citizen of the United States and of the State of New York, and resides in Onondaga County, New York. He is a law-abiding person, who currently possesses and has maintained an unrestricted New York carry license since 2019, and who is eligible to possess and carry firearms in the State of New York. Learn More…
Plaintiff Alfred Terrille is a natural person, a citizen of the United States and of the State of New York, and resides in Albany County, New York. He is a law-abiding person, who currently possesses and has maintained an unrestricted New York carry license since 1994, and who is eligible to possess and carry firearms in the State of New York. Learn More…
Plaintiff Joseph Mann is a natural person, a citizen of the United States and of the State of New York, and resides in Oswego County, New York. He is a law-abiding person, who currently possesses and has maintained a New York employment related carry license since 2014, and who is eligible to possess and carry firearms in the State of New York. Learn More…
Plaintiff Leslie Leman is a natural person, a citizen of the United States and of the State of New York, and resides in Greene County, New York. He is a law-abiding person, who currently possesses and has maintained an unrestricted New York carry license since 2012, and who is eligible to possess and carry firearms in the State of New York. Learn More…
Plaintiff Lawrence Sloane is a natural person, a citizen of the United States and of the State of New York, and resides in Onondaga County, New York. He is a law-abiding person, who desires to apply for and obtain an unrestricted New York carry license, and thereafter to concealed carry a handgun in public for self-defense, and is (aside from not having a license) eligible to possess and carry firearms in the State of New York. Learn More…